Resources Repository
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ArticlePublication 2020Premature Deaths, Statistical Lives, and Years of Life
This article clarifies some misconceptions about mortality risk and economic valuation. The mortality effects of …
This article clarifies some misconceptions about mortality risk and economic valuation. The mortality effects of exposure to environmental hazards such as air pollution are often described by the estimated number of “premature deaths” and the economic value of an exposure reduction as the number of “statistical lives saved” multiplied by the “value per statistical life.” These terms can be misleading because the number of deaths advanced by exposure cannot be determined from mortality data; it…
Preferences/Values | Environmental Health | Health Outcomes | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Policy/Regulation | College | Graduate | Critical Thinking/Analysis -
Teaching PackPublication, Teaching Resource 2022Teaching Pack: Valuing Individual Health Outcomes
In this teaching pack on Valuing Individual Health Outcomes, students learn how to assign quantitative …
In this teaching pack on Valuing Individual Health Outcomes, students learn how to assign quantitative values to health outcomes at the individual level, including: expected utility theory, the axioms of this theory, distinguishing between preference-based measures of value and health-related quality of life outcomes, measuring utility using the standard gamble, the time trade-off, and the visual analog scale, and understanding the limitations of these measures. Materials include an instructor's note, videos, companion slides, a glossary,…
Preferences/Values | Injuries/Accidents | Health Outcomes | Decision Analysis | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | College | Graduate | Doctoral -
Teaching PackPublication, Teaching Resource 2022Teaching Pack: Population Health Outcomes
In this teaching pack on Population Health Outcomes, students learn how to describe outcomes at a …
In this teaching pack on Population Health Outcomes, students learn how to describe outcomes at a population level using quality adjusted life years (QALYs), including how to calculate QALYs, the assumptions underlying them, how to derive QALYs using indirect utility measures, and what are some of the ethical criticisms of QALYs. Materials include an instructor’s note, videos, companion slides, a glossary, an annotated bibliography, and sample exercises. Learning Objectives Define Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALYs)…
Preferences/Values | Injuries/Accidents | Priority Setting/Ethics | Health Outcomes | Health/Medicine | College | Graduate | Doctoral -
ReviewPublication 2016Strengthening Cost-Effectiveness Analysis for Public Health Policy
Many important opportunities to improve health lie outside the health sector and involve improving the …
Many important opportunities to improve health lie outside the health sector and involve improving the conditions in which we live and work: safe design and maintenance of roads, bridges, train tracks, and airports; control of environmental pollutants; occupational safety; healthy buildings; a safe and healthy food supply; safe manufacture of consumer products; a healthy social environment; and others. Faced with the overwhelming array of possibilities, U.S. decision makers need help identifying those that can contribute the…
Preferences/Values | Environmental Health | Priority Setting/Ethics | Costing Methods | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Social Determinants | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Climate/Environment | Economics/Finance | Food/Agriculture | Health/Medicine | North America -
ReviewPublication 2016Choosing an Epidemiological Model Structure for Economic Evaluation
This review presents a taxonomy of epidemiological model structures and applies it to the economic …
This review presents a taxonomy of epidemiological model structures and applies it to the economic evaluation of public health interventions for non-communicable diseases. Growing pressures on health services and on social care have led to a greater need for prevention of chronic diseases. In order for decision makers to make informed judgements about how to best spend finite public health resources, they must be able to quantify the anticipated costs, benefits, and opportunity costs of…
Dynamic Transmission | Environmental Health | Mathematical Models | State-Transition | Microsimulation | Dynamic Simulation | Chronic Disease/Risk | Social Determinants | Health Systems | Climate/Environment | Culture/Society | Health/Medicine -
Working PaperPublication 2015Benefit-Cost Analysis and the Cities
This paper provides a short introduction to the use of benefit-cost analysis to assess interventions …
This paper provides a short introduction to the use of benefit-cost analysis to assess interventions undertaken at the city or municipal level. It introduces the concepts that underlie the conduct of benefit-cost analysis, describes the major analytic components, and discusses how to tailor the analysis to the characteristics of the policy and the resources available. It concludes with a list of references for those interested in learning more.
Preferences/Values | Environmental Health | Priority Setting/Ethics | Decision Analysis | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Social Determinants | Policy/Regulation | Climate/Environment | Culture/Society | Economics/Finance | Government/Law | North America | Critical Thinking/Analysis -
GuidelinesPublication 2014EPA Guidelines for Preparing Economic Analyses
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Guidelines for Preparing Economic Analyses provide a framework for …
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Guidelines for Preparing Economic Analyses provide a framework for assessing the impacts of environmental regulations and policies that has been extensively peer-reviewed and is widely-applied both within and outside of the agency. The Guidelines discuss: (1) statutory and executive order requirements for conducting economic analyses; (2) identifying the need for policy action; (3) regulatory and non-regulatory approaches to pollution control; (4) baseline definition; (5) discounting future benefits and costs;…
Preferences/Values | Environmental Health | Priority Setting/Ethics | Decision Analysis | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Policy/Regulation | Climate/Environment | Government/Law | North America | Critical Thinking/Analysis